Assam health minister Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma, who has been accused to be mainly responsible for the ongoing political instability in Meghalaya, today claimed that the Congress would soon gain power in that state after the court decides the fate of the five suspended MLAs.
Addressing a press conference here, Dr Sarma claimed that the Congress had the requisite number and paraded the MLAs.
''But Speaker Bindo M Lanong suspended the five MLAs illegally. We have moved Gauhati High Court and once the order comes in our favour, we are going to dislodge the MPA government,'' Dr Sarma claimed.
In the trial of strength the ruling Meghalaya Progressive Alliance (MPA) secured 28 votes while Congress got 27 votes. The speaker gave the crucial and deciding vote in favour of the MPA.
Four of the five legislators, who were suspended by the Speaker and barred from attending the House, were present and cast their votes.
The speaker announced that their votes were invalid as they had been suspended. Immediately after the speaker announced the result of the confidence vote, the opposition Congress members created a din shouting that he was ''biased'' and had ''violated'' the Constitution.
Talking about the newly formed AGP-BJP alliance, Dr Sarma alleged that the BJP had paid Rs eight crore to the AGP in lieu of the eight seats that the AGP had left for the party.
He also denied that Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi had made a visit to Kolkata to meet the tea industry captains for vote management in the tea gardens.